Please help me think this through

lostinrates

She's got through the op fine I can collect her this afternoon. : d )

Takes a week to get biopsy results, but likely to be longer because of holidays.


She's got some new long term meds to take for the skin. The others are enjoying her comfortable bed while she's not here today.

lisajane8482

Aww that's brilliant news

lostinrates

lisajane8482 wrote: »

Aww that's brilliant news

Thanks. DH and I have been crying like kids . He was saying how funny it was how I go to pieces over our own and seem to forget what I know. I don't think that's always true, but cancer is something totally out of any area of serious area of study of mine, so I feel utterly dependent on my vet and their team.

We've had it a lot but its something we've only had end badly and that I've never studied so I feel out of depth and unable to make a 'dispassionate' or 'educated' decision for her on.

Francesanne

phill99 wrote: »

My lovely 6 yr old border collie was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in October. Cancer in dogs isn't curable.

Chemotherapy is available but has to be done weekly (in my dogs case) and at the most can defer the inevitable, maybe by a few weeks maybe by a few months. It is very distressing for the dog to undergo chemo and very debilitating. Apart from that, it's very expensive. Not sure if insurance covers chemo given that it can't cure them.

He ended up going on steroids for a few weeks, but these have their own side affects. I got another month out of him and he became very poorly over a weekend and I made the decision to de the kindest thing and he was PTS just over a month ago.

The thing you must focus on is the welfare of the dog. It's what is right for the animal, not what you want. It's an awful decision to make. My dog wasn't insured as I self insure, but the money was there to treat him. If he could have been saved, I would have saved him. The money was irrelevant. But he couldn't, so the financial side was academic in the end.

Just make sure you do what is right for the dog.

Our much loved little dog had to be put to sleep on the 16th December. He was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma on his paw back in 2011. Had op to remove growth but started to grow back within a week. We didn't want to put him through chemotherapy. Vet recommended steroid cream for paw and the effect was amazing & it vanished completely. He needed to wear socks indoors because he was prone to nibble but he was extremely well & had a great quality of life. Only recently had started to go down and we had to do the best by him. He was 15 and had a marvellous life and was loved to bits. It was very ironic because we'd paid out for years for pet insurance but his premium had risen to £37.00 pound a month by 2010 and we decided to cancel it. The following year cancer was diagnosed. Our vet always advised against insurance & just save money on regular basis for vets bills. We spent a fortune on ops & treatment but he was worth every single penny. We had him cremated & that too cost a small fortune but we wanted him home.

lisajane8482

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, how is Big Dog doing?

lostinrates

Thanks lisajane we did. As I hope did every one else!


Big dog is doing ok.

Op was fine, and the recovery is interesting. She's happier and more relaxed since op. obviously surgery is not going to be anything to do with that, but what it suggests is that her current medication for ongoing other problem is not as good as it could be. We've talked to the vet about a plan for that, if the is all it is a change of meds MIGHT sort it out.

. She finished the drugs I think made the difference on Thursday....., went back to her own on Friday, and was more sore today.

We're going to monitor her closely this week. I think it will be telling. I was out all day to day and one of my parents dog sat, she didn't eat:(. Very unlike her.. So whether drug changes are filtering through or just 'one of those things' we'll see in the morning. We've got another check up on Friday, but results aren't likely to be bak till Monday they think. We're sticking by original resolve that chemo is not a good move for her.


If her pain relief is not as beneficial for her ongoing problem as we thought then we have a change to consider there too, and more questions. Seeing her so relaxed has been incredible.

lostinrates

I just want to give a final update,

Big dogs last report from labs came through this evening. There is very low risk of cancer returning to that site, . The best news possible.

Her wound looks ace.

Her new drugs are suiting her brilliantly. Today. Had to tell her to leave the other dogs alone as they just didn't want to play as much as her. .

We made the right choice, what ever happens with the rest of her, the op has been a good choice.

MrsAtobe

I'm so glad for all of you

Gold_Dust_2

:j :j yaaaaay!!! I am so happy for you and Big Dog! It's about time someone had some good news, woohoo!

lostinrates

I just thought I'd give the kind people who helped me through my panic an update.


Big dogs massive scar is so neat and beautiful and she is doing really comfortably.

Her back is seemingly MUCH more comfortable and we have to juggle pills a bit because she is uber enthusiastic a lot of the time at the moment at risks doing herself damage and the others find this enthusiastic big dog a bit over bearing.


She has started to stumble more behind, which is a bad sign for her back, but she remains comfortable so we are hopeful she'll have a good summer and we can see how she is at the beginning of next winter.

Next dog down (dog dog) is being spayed next week as we had been waiting to spay both together last year ( for reasons of social dynamic and practicality) but its evident that its not sensible or reasonable to spay big dog so we've decided to go ahead with dog dog now.